Railway vehicle floor structure



March 16, 1965 w. s. EGGERT, JR

RAILWAY VEHICLE FLOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 24, 1962 OOO 0 000000 'INVENTOR. Walter SiqgerUr ATTC%%'Y March 16, 1965 w. s.EGGERT, JR

RAILWAY VEHICLE FLOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. WalterSEqgzfiJr ATTORNEY Filed April 24, 1962 March 16, 1965 w. s. EGGERT, JR

RAILWAY VEHICLE FLOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 24, 1962IIWII m. M m

ATTORNEY P I CT. 11

Walter SEqqzrfi, Jl. BY

wdowd United States Patent ()fiice 3,173,383 Patented Mar. 16, 19653,173,383 RAILWAY VEHECLE ELGOR STRUCTURE Walter S. Eggert, In,Philadelphia, Pa, assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 24, 1962, Ser. No.j189,75tl 7Glaims. (Cl. 105-422)- This invention relates to a new and improvedrailway vehicle floor structure and more particularly to a selfcontainedreinforced sandwich panel railway car floor which eliminates the needfor an underframe.

Her-etofore, the floor of a railway car has been supported by astructural underframe. Most common among structural underframes is thecenter sill type. Typical modern center sill underframe structures areshown in U.S. Patents 2,946,297 and 2,620,751. A variation from thecenter sill structure is known as a ladder structure wherein the centersill is substantially divided and becomes two structural longitudinallythrough-running side sills connected by laterally extending crossmembers. A center sill structure is usually preferred because the draftloads and buff loads may be applied directly into the center sill whichis the backbone of the underframe.

One of the problems associated with underframes is that they requirelaterally extending cross members which have considerable depth in orderto provide sutlicient strength and stiffness. The load on the car floorfrom above and the load of equipment suspended below the floor must betied into the underframe structure by subframing. Equipment suspendedbelow railway cars is fitted between the cross members andinterconnected by conduits extending through apertures in the crossmembers. Heretofore, it has been necessary to first place the equipmentbetween cross members and then connect with a conduit the individualpieces of equipment. Elimination of the cross frames and sills by theprovision of a thin floor structure without an underframe enables freeplacement of prefabricated conduit carriers.

Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide arailway car iioor structure which is light in weight and economical andeasy to manufacture and can meet the ICCand AAR strength requirements.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sandwich panelfloor structure adapted for interconnection to end frames and to othersandwich panels.

Another object of the present invention i's-toprovide a sandwichstructure with formed skin sheets which pro vide reinforcements andconnection points between adjacent sandwich panels.

Another object of the present invention-is to provide a sandwich panelrailway car floor which has a bolster and side sill between the skinsheets of the sandwich structure.

A further object is to provide a railway car floor structure of greatstrength and rigidity and" of uniform thickness over its entire area.

A still further object is to-provicle a strong'rigid' railway car floorstructure for attachment to trucks without an under'frame.

A further object is to-provide a universal floor structure adapted toall types of railway cars.

Other objects and advantages and the manner in which they are obtainedwill become evident from the following detailed description when read inconnection With the drawings forming a part of this specification;

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a typical passenger rail- Way vehicleemploying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section in elevation taken through the floor panel of FIG. 1in section 22 showing the side sill and draft sill arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a section in elevation taken through the draft pocket atsections 33 of FIG. 1 showing the mounting bracket, end sill and bolsterarrangement;

FIG. 4 is a section in elevation taken through the end frame at sections4-4 of FIG. 1 showing the end sill and bolster;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bottom of the end frame inverted toshow the draft gear pocket and draft sill connections to the upper bodybolster;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the top of the end frame in its normalupright position showing the smooth end frame floor structure;

FIG. 7 is a section in elevation taken at sections 77 of FIG. 1 showingthe novel sandwich panel connection joint;

FIG. 8 is a perspectiveview showing the joint of FIG. 7 in an explodedview;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the joint shown in FIG. 8 assembled;

FIG. 10 is a section through one of the panels of FIG. 1 showing thehanger bracket;

FIG. 11 is a section in elevation of a typical sandwich panel showing afloor stanchion connection.

Refer now to FIG. 1 wherein a complete floor of a typical railway car isshown. The floor 10 consists of a plurality of sandwich panels 12interconnected at their outer edges to side sills 14 and connected atthe inner edges to-similar panels 12 or terminating at the upper bodybolster 16. Another sandwich panel 18- similar to sandwich panel 12 isconnected between the body bolster l6 and end sills 20 at the inneredges of the panel and between the side sill 14 and the draft sill 22 atthe outer edges of the panel 18.

The end frame 24 of the floor structure 10' is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6which includes bolster 16,- panels 18 and their associated side sill 14,end sill 29, draft sills 22 and a striker plate 26. The curved strikerplate 26 shown in FiGS. 1, 5 and 6 provides clearance between adjacentcars when it is necessary for the cars to execute tight turns such asthose encountered in subway or rapid transit service. However, if thefloor structure is to be employed on railway cars for inter-city rapidtransit service the striker plate would be completely flat and normal tothe side walls. This would enable extending the usable car room to theouter end'limits of the floor structure lil. Thus, it is understood thatthe end frame and striker plate 26 may be modified to provide formaximum utilization of the end frame space.

The end frame basically consists of a super structure interconnected byreinforcing panels 18. Under maximum stress loads, encountered in buffloading, striker plate 2.6 distributes loads into the end sill 20; Endsill 20 distributes loads into the draft sills 22, side sills 14 andpanels 18. Draft sills 22 and side sills 14 distribute shear loads intopanels 18: It can be seen from FIGS. 5 and 6 that any buff load appliedat' any point along the striker plate 26 is' distributed in compressionthrough the sills to the sandwich structure panels 18', and that anycompression load applied to the end sill is picked up by the panel 18andtransferred to the side sills and sandwich structure panel 18 givinga uniform loading effect. The reverse eifect: is also true when a draftload is applied causing the sills to transfer tension loads to thepanels in shear.

Only a slight modification of the end frame is necessary to adapt thefloor structure to most known types of railway service. The side sill14' is shown as a straight structural shape connected to the end sillsit) but it is to be understood that the portion ofthe' side sill 14between 3 the bolster 16 and the end sill 26 may be formed to curveinward thus providing an access for steps for loading passengers fromground level.

The side sill 14 is shown as a T-section in FIG. 2 welded to the upperskin sheet 28 and the lower skin sheet 30 by continuous fusion weldalong the vertical web of side sill 14. The side wall 32 of the railwaycar is shown attached to the side sill 14 by bolt connectors 34. Part ofthe rigidity of the floor structure 10 is supplied by the side wall 32bolted at intervals to the side sill 14 along its entire length. Whilethe T-section is representative of a preferred structure for the sidesills, other structural shapes may be substituted in lieu thereof. Theupper skin sheet 28 is substantially flat except for the dimples orlowered formed shapes 36 formed therein. Lower skin sheet 30 issubstantially fiat except for the dimples or raised shapes 38 formedtherein. The bottom of the shapes or dimples are formed substantiallyflat and are welded together as by resistance welds 4t) off center asshown. The upper skin sheet 28 is shown Welded to the draft sill 22 atits upper end to form a continuous fiat surface with the upperhorizontal web 42 of the draft sill 22. The lower skin sheet 30 isconnected to the center horizontal web of the draft sill 22 along theentire length of the panel 18. As shown in FIG. 3, draft sill 22 extendsfrom the striker plate 26 rearward to body bolster 16 and the upperhorizontal web 42 is welded to the body bolster 16 at the edge of thebolster forming a continuous flat panel therewith. The center horizontalweb 4-4 of the draft sill 22 is welded to the striker plate 26 andextends rearward terminating at the edge of body bolster 16. The centerhorizontal web 44 is cut away permitting the lower vertical web 4-6 ofthe draft sill 22 to be welded to the body bolster 16.

Bracket 46 shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and provides a means for attachment of adraft coupler or spring butter. The vertical web 48 of the body bolster16 provides a spacing and connecting means for the two symmetricchannels which form the body bolster. Panels 12 and 18 are preferablyformed from deep drawing steel such as AISA 1010 in such a manner thatthe edges of the panels remain straight and the surface of the panelsremain flat. A method of drawing panels 12 and 18 to obtain flatrectangular panels from flat sheets of material is disclosed in mycopending application S.N. 189,887, entitled Method and Means of DeepForming Sandwich Structures, filed April 24, 1962. The manner in whichthe straight edges of the panels are connected to the sills and bolsteris illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4 wherein the main body of the sill 20 andbolster 16 are of the same thickness as the panels 12 and 18. Bolster 16and sill 20 are provided with curved edges which abut the straight edgesof the sandwich panels. A continuous fusion weld is provided to connectthe skin sheets to the heavier structural formed plate member (bolster16 and sill 20) by known arc welding techniques.

In order to provide a reinforced sandwich structure and a means ofconnecting the edges of panels 12 to each other, a formed end structureis provided on each of the panels 12 as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9. The upperskin sheet 28 of panel 12 is formed with an offset and downturnedZ-section 50. The upper horizontal web 52 of the Z-section 50 is offsettwice the thickness of the skin sheet while the lower horizontal web 54is offset a single thickness of the skin sheet. The other edge of thelower skin sheet 30 (not shown) is formed with an offset and upturnedZ-section similar to Z-section 56 shown on the adjacent panel 12. Theskin sheets of individual panels 12 are preferably spot welded togetherby welds 40 at the mating surfaces of the raised-and lower shapes 36'and 38' and at the mating section of the skin sheet with a web of theZ-sections 50 and 56. In order to provide a reinforced sandwich panel afiller weld 53 is applied at the junction of the panels 12 providing acontinuous panel of the same thickness. It will be noted that thesandwich panels 12 on either side of the joint shown in FIG. 7 act asreinforced trusses to stabilize the top and bottom chords for the I-beamformed by the Z-sections and the skin sheets. FIG. 8 shows two of thepanels 12 removed from each other and from the side sill 14. Each inneredge of each panel 12 is provided with one oriented extending edge whichoverlaps and engages an offset and recessed portion on another panelthus providing a means for reinforcement and self alignment. TheZ-sections 50 and 56 do not continue to the outer edges of the panels 12as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 which permits the edges of the skin sheets tooverlap the side sills 14. Thus, the Z-sections also provide a means foralignment of the side sills 14 during fabrication.

In FIG. 10 a hanger bracket 60 is shown connected to the sandwich panelby means of bolted formed washers 62 which distribute the load appliedto any dimple located anywhere in the sandwich structure uniformly andwithout stress concentrations. One of the assets of the novel floorstructure resides in its ability to distribute concentrated loads. Loadswhich far exceed an expected uniform loading have been suspended in themanner shown in FIG. 10. It was found that individual panels reacted asI- beams regardless of where the load was hung and the deflection due toshear loading was much less than what would be theoretically expected.Thus, the floor is stiffer than floors with underframes and moreresistant to fatigue failures.

A method of connecting floor stanchions and other equipments above thesurface of the floor structure is shown in FIG. 11 where a threaded rod66 is welded to apertures provided in both skin sheets of the sandwichpanel structure.

In order to provide a durable and resilient fioor covering for the floorstructure it is only necessary to trowel on a cement like material 68 asshown in FIGS. 10 and 11 which may be colored with pigment and used asthe finished surface, or covered over with any well known type of floorcovering 70 if so desired.

In an actual embodiment of the above-described floor structure it wasfound that the floor was as strong as high tensile stainless steel floorstructures employing the underframe principle while requiring only onehalf the depth of the high tensile stainless steel underframe structure.Since the structure shown may be constructed from ordinary low carbonsteel having only 25 percent of the tensile strength of cold rolledstainless steel it would be expected that the floor structure would beconsiderably heavier, but it was found that the novel structure wascomparable in weight to stainless steel underfrarne type structures andcosts only 20 percent as much while providing a superior structure infatigue strength, equally as strong as stainless steel structures of theprior art.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiments shown and described hereinbefore, and that variousmodifications and refinements may be employed in practice withoutdeparting from the present invention. For example, in a Europeanpassenger car two buflers are provided near the side sills. It ispossible to eliminate the draft sills by providing sandwich structurepanels like panels 12 between the bolster 16 and the end sill 20. In agondola type car the side walls may be constructed as sandwich panelslike the floor panels, and connected to the floor panels withoutrequiring side sill structures. Drop center gondola cars are made in asimilar manner by constructing the sides and bottom of the car with thenovel sandwich panels. Since the novel floor structure completelyeliminates the underframe it is possible to make larger freight cars bydropping the floor level. It is further possible to make hopper chutecoal cars with lower center clearance and of larger volume because thecenter sill is eliminated.

In describing several modifications and embodiments it becomes apparentthat the novel structure may be curved to desired shapes and will stillretain its inherent strength as self-reinforced panel structures. Theside sills between the bolster 16 and the end sill 20 may be cut away orframed to provide an access for steps as required by some passengercars.

Other changes and modifications will suggest themselves to those skilledin the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined bythe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. For use in a railway car floor having a framework defining arectangular opening located centrally oi the floor length: a pluralityof rectangular, transverse sandwich panels having adjacent edgesconnected to each other and non-adjacent edges adapted to be connectedto the framework to fill the opening; each of said panels comprising anupper skin sheet having a plurality of dependent formed shapes thereon,and a lower skin sheet having a plurality of raised formed shapesthereon abutting and welded to said formed shapes of said upper skinsheet; and, at said adjacent edges, said upper skin sheet of one of saidpanels having a down-turned first Z-shaped edge welded along its lowerend to the associated lower skin sheet, and said lower skin sheet ofsaid adjacent panel having an upturned, second Z-shaped edge weldedalong its upper end to the associated upper skin sheet, said 2- shapededges being overlapped and seam welded between said upper skin sheetsand said lower skin sheets to connect said adjacent edges of saidpanels.

2. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said firstZ-shaped edge has an upper flange ofiset from the plane of theassociated upper skin sheet a distance twice the thickness of the upperskin sheet, a lower flange welded to the associated lower skin sheet,and a first web extending between said flanges; and said second Z-shapededge has a lower flange offset from the plane of the associated lowerskin sheet a distance twice the thickness of the lower skin sheet, anupper flange welded to the associated upper skin sheet, and a second webextending between said associated fianges; said skin sheets being of thesame thickness to provide a flat surface at the joint between saidpanels.

3. In a railway car floor structure, the combination of: two,laterally-spaced side sills extending along the sides of said floorstructure; two longitudinally-spaced end frames extending across andconnected to the ends of said side sills and having transverse bolstersdefining, in conjunction with said side sills, a rectangular opening;said bolsters and said side sills being of uniform, substantially equalthicknesses; and a rectangular floor section connected about itsperiphery to said side sills and said bolsters to fill said opening;said section comprising a plurality of rectangular, transverse panelsdisposed side-byside and having adjacent edges connected to each other;each of said panels comprising flat, rectangular upper and lower sheetsspaced apart a distance substantially the same as the thickness of saidside sills and bolsters to provide a fiat floor section of uniformdepth, said sheets having evenly-spaced, abutted cup-shaped dimplesthereon welded together to rigidly interconnect said sheets; said edgesof said sheets that are connected to said sills and bolsters beingstraight and welded along their lengths to said sills and bolsters.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein an end frame comp-rises: an endsill, a draft sill extending between said end sill and said bolster anddefining two rectangular openings on each side of said draft sillbetween said end sill, said side sills and said bolster; and tworectangular panels fitted into said openings; each of said panelscomprising flat, rectangular upper and lower sheets welded about theirperiphery to the members defining the opening in which said sheets aredisposed and having abutting, evenlyspaced, cup-shaped dimples thereonwelded together.

5. The combination of claim 3 wherein, at said adjacent edges of saidpanels, one of said panels comprises an oifset Z-shaped first sectionintegral with one of said skin sheets and welded to the other, and saidadjacent panel has an offset Z-shaped second section inverted withrespect to said first section and overlapped therewith so that saidupper sheets of adjacent panels are closely adjacent to each other andsaid lower sheets of adjacent panels are closely adjacent to each other,and said adjacent sheets and sections are welded along their lengths toform an I-beam at said adjacent edges.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said sheets of said panels overlapsaid side sills, and the lengths of said Z-shaped sections are less thanthe lengths of said panels and abut, at their ends, and align said sidesills.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein each side sill is of T-shapedcross section having a vertical web extending between said sheetsconnected thereto and abutting said Z-shaped sections, and a horizontalweb extending in an outboard direction away from said vertical web.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,913,342 6/33Schatfert 189-34 2,177,036 10/39 Greulich 189-34 2,589,633 3/52Shepheard 189-34 2,678,116 5/54 Gruber 189-34 2,801,597 8/57 Ecotf -423,071,216 1/63 Jones et a1. 189-34 3,086,899 4/63 Smith et a1. 189-34EUGENE G. BOTZ, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner.

1. FOR USE IN A RAILWAY CAR FLOOR HAVING A FRAMEWORK DEFINING ARECTANGULAR OPENING LOCATED CENTRALLY OF THE FLOOR LENGTH: A PLURALITYOF RECTANGULAR, TRANSVERSE SANDWICH PANELS HAVING ADJACENT EDGESCONNECTED TO EACH OTHER AND NON-ADJACENT EDGES ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTEDTO THE FRAMEWORK TO FILL THE OPENING; EACH OF SAID PANELS COMPRISING ANUPPER SKIN SHEET HAVING A PLURALITY OF DEPENDENT FORMED SHAPES THEREON,AND A LOWER SKIN SHEET HAVING A PLURALITY OF RAISED FORMED SHAPESTHEREON ABUTTING AND WELDED TO SAID FORMED SHAPES OF SAID UPPER SKINSHEET; AND, AT SAID ADJACENT EDGED, SAID UPPER SKIN SHEET OF ONE OF SAIDPANELS HAVING A DOWN-TURBED FIRST Z-SHAPED EDGE WELDED ALONG ITS LOWEREND OF THE ASSOCIATED LOWER SKIN SHEET, AND SAID LOWER SKIN SHEET OFSAID ADJACENT PANEL HAVING AN UNTURNED, SECOND Z-SHAPED EDGE WELDEDALONG ITS UPPER END TO THE ASSOCIATED UPPER SKIN SHEET, SAID ZSHAPEDEDGES BEING OVERLAPPED AND SEAM WELDED BETWEEN SAID UPPER SKIN SHEETSAND SAID LOWER SKIN SHEETS TO CONNECT SAID ADJACENT EDGES OF SAIDPANELS.